“Do you have to go back?” I ask, to stop myself indulging that line of thought.
She frowns. “Back where?”
“Europe. Your tour dates.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not going anywhere, Cassie.”
“I must look so bad,” I say, but I don’t hide my face from her. I no longer fear what she thinks. I’m more interested in what she’s feeling.
“You look as beautiful as you always do. You and all that golden hair and sunshine freckles.” She uses her fingers to comb my hair away from my face. “Folk’s English rose. A human songbird. The music industry’s golden girl.”
She’s quoting all the names I’ve been called in articles over the years. I reach up, cup her cheek with my hand and do the same. “Femme Fatale. Punk rock’s rebel with a cause. The angriest woman in rock’n’roll.”
Pia smiles and closes her eyes, leaning into my touch. Then she opens her eyes, fixes me with a steady gaze and says, “I wonder what they’d say if they knew about us.”
“I … I don’t care,” I tell her, because in this moment, in the bubble of my bedroom, I really, really don’t. “Do you?”
Pia’s eyes are moving again, roaming my face, looking at her hands, my hand. She doesn’t settle.
“Pia,” I say, a prompt for an answer I so desperately need.
“You should rest,” she tells me. And I know she’s right, but also it feels so wrong of her to not give me an answer.
I’m about to tell her so, but she’s kicking off her boots, standing up and yanking her jeans off.
“What are you doing?” I ask, because as much as I love seeing more of Pia’s skin, I am in no position to take advantage of it.
“Getting into bed with you,” she says, carefully climbing over me. “I told you, you need to rest. I’m going to make sure you do.”
When she’s under the covers with me, her arm wrapped tightly around my waist and her mouth peppering kisses over the curve of my shoulder, any annoyance I feel melts away.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” I say again.
“I’m not going anywhere, Cassie,” she repeats, and that’s plenty answer enough for any question I have.
CHAPTER 29
PIA
Idon’t know if I wake before her or if she wakes before me. I only know that the first thing I hear after my eyes are open–and I’ve taken a moment to cherish how good she feels in my arms–is her voice.
“You’re still here,” she says, and I know that she’s speaking loudly and clearly for me to hear.
“I’m still here,” I tell her.
CHAPTER 30
CASSIE
Pia keeps me in bed for a full twenty-four hours. She sleeps or lies next to me for most of that, but once or twice, when I come to from a nap, she’s not there, and I panic. But then I see her boots and her jeans on the carpet, and I relax enough to fall back asleep.
I always sleep better when her body is next to mine. I sleep so well and without a single dream.
Maybe I should care about that, but I don’t. Because I fall asleep again, only to open my eyes an indecipherable amount of time later and feel her foot against my calf. And then I feel like I’m living in a literal dream.
“You’re still here,” I say when she stirs next to me, coming closer, wrapping her arm around me.
“I’m still here,” she repeats.
